


Omnes Relinquite Spes, O Vos Intrantes

by wonker8



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: AU, Angst, Even with no knowledge of the Titans one can read this, M/M, Rated for the Titan Violence, Set in Star Trek verse with Titans, Shingeki no Kyojin AU, Titans, Violence, You might want to know the Star Trek characters, but I highly recommend checking out Shingeki no Kyojin, but it's not really required, not happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-10
Updated: 2013-09-10
Packaged: 2017-12-26 04:58:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/961831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wonker8/pseuds/wonker8
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the year 2249, the Earth as humans knew it came to an end. Strange creatures called “Titans” appeared out of nowhere and began consuming humanoids. To escape, Starfleet began to shuttle people out into space on their starships.</p><p>2 years later, the last remaining humanoids left on Earth spend their final moments battling the Titans for the last time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Omnes Relinquite Spes, O Vos Intrantes

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for [Vulcanspectre](http://vulcanspectre.tumblr.com/) for this awesome [picture](http://vulcanspectre.tumblr.com/post/60370902406/i-had-fun-once-idk-dont-look-at-me-its-been-a). It went through at least 15 revisions, including but not limited to erasing everything on the doc to start over. 
> 
> I've done my best to keep this completely spoiler free, which means you can read this without knowledge of either Star Trek or Shingeki no Kyoujin. But for your reference:
> 
> [Wikipedia Entry on Shingeki no Kyoujin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Titan)  
> [Height Comparison](http://z.mhcdn.net/store/manga/8886/008.0/compressed/r8.36.jpg?v=11299800836) (Note: the Colossal Titan is not mentioned in this story)  
> 3D Gear: [[x](http://z.mhcdn.net/store/manga/8886/003.0/compressed/e3.42.jpg?v=11295921298)] [[x](http://z.mhcdn.net/store/manga/8886/003.0/compressed/e3.43.jpg?v=11295921298)]  
> [Close Up on Titans' Brutality](http://listlessink.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/shingeki-no-kyojin-ch18p251.jpg) (Note: this picture is very graphic)  
> [2009 Movie-verse Reboot of Star Trek information](http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Alternate_reality) (Note: Only the dates and the characters are used. Everything else could be disregarded.)
> 
> Oh, and before I forget, please, please, please look at the tags before reading this.

Leonard McCoy had just graduated from med school when the world ended. Sometimes, when you got him drunk enough, he would laugh and bitterly say, “Just in time, too.” Then he would laugh and laugh, a rare sight you never saw from the usual sourpuss of a doctor, until he passed out from the alcohol, a big stupid smile on his face. The next day, he would wake up with a killer hangover and a loud complaint, and everyone would avoid the medical center just to avoid his temper (Everyone but Jim, anyways). 

They ran out of alcohol three days ago.

When the world ended, Leonard McCoy was happily married with a baby on the way. His pregnant wife had come to the graduation ceremony, tired but with a bright smile that made her glow like the sun. They went on a date afterwards. They held hands and talked all through the meal, musing about their future. They talked of schooling for the baby, his choice in career, her choices, and baby names. None of it involved the world ending.

“Damn it all.” 

None of it involved this hellish hole Leonard found himself in now. Trapped in the highest room in the tower, wondering just how they got to this. There was an elevator shaft on one side of the room. The other side had a small window to look out of. Not that anyone did. Not when there was nothing but horror waiting for them out there. He glanced around the room at the bleak faces of those who had lost all hope. It was the faces that he got used to seeing around here. Bleak faces and dead bodies… or parts of them, anyways.

“We were so fucking close.” 

And they had been. They had been. But there wasn’t going to be any way out of this. Not this time. No matter how hard they tried, how much they struggled, they were going to fail. They were all going to be eaten, if they didn’t kill one another first in order to not be eaten alive. He could hear the sobs, the angry growls, and the hopelessness. Because for once, it was all true. There was _nothing_ left. 

He had always been thankful for the end of the world has been until after he graduated from medical school… Not that it mattered much now.

*

In the year 2249, the Earth as humans knew it came to an end. Strange creatures called “Titans” appeared out of nowhere and began consuming humanoids. They were… a strange scientific anomaly, as their favourite Vulcan would say. 

Their sizes ranged from 5 meters to 15 meters (approximately 16.40 feet to 49.21 feet) and looked similar to human males with heads too large for their bodies. They appeared to lack any reproductive organs; however, their numbers kept swelling, with more new ones appearing each day. Perhaps what was the most surprising was their lack of intelligence; they just swarmed an area like mindless beasts, tearing through towns and eating all humanoid they came into contact (all other life forms, they left alone). Scientifically speaking, these beings should not be able to exist. And yet, there they were, snatching humans and aliens alike indiscriminately and plopping them into their mouths. 

At first, the retaliation was violent, as things tended to be when it came to the unknown. Newer and more destructive weapons were created. And yet nothing worked against them. The phasers may slow them down, but it did not take down those creatures. Photon missiles came close, but it caused too much destruction to the Earth and the remaining few people left. Any and all weapons created for the sake of destruction did not matter, for the Titans simply regenerated and continued to eat and destroy.

It did not take long for Starfleet to begin shuttling as many important officials as they could to space. Within days, however, the interstellar travel reached a new peak in costs, due to the simple reason that Starfleet had a limited number of starships, which in turn had limited space. Only the richest could afford it. Others were chosen at random in a raffle. Those who could not afford to leave were brought to the coastlines, where defending their lives was not as hard, for the Titans could not cross the waters (although given enough time and desperation, they might). Those in space were frantically searching for a place to settle and claim as ‘New Earth.’

Starfleet then established land bases meant to protect those left on Earth until all humanoids except for the Titans were taken off-planet. These bases had two functions. One was to build more starships to ferry as many people as they could out. The other, in a sense, was to be humanity’s last line of defence. In their desperate struggle, they built two more star ships and managed to locate one way to stop a Titan: the nape of the Titan’s neck. If a huge enough chunk was cut out, the Titan shut down and assumed a death-like stage. 

In order to accomplish that, Starfleet came up with a new type of weapons: 3D gear. It allowed for the person wearing it to ‘fly.’ It fired an anchor that could be attached to nearly anywhere. Then it used a gas-powered engine to propel the wearer, thus giving it an appearance of flight. Attached to this were twelve swords, six on each side, that could be used to cut into the Titan’s neck. On average, it took a team of 30 to fall one seven meter (22.97 feet) Titan.

All of this was information that was given to any Starfleet officials left on Earth. Leonard McCoy was not a Starfleet official. He was just a civilian doctor who happened to help them too many times to not know the information. But when the numbers started to fall, and defending the people became just as important as healing them, Leonard McCoy strapped a 3D gear on and with a scowl, he walked with the rest of the troop.

*

The arguments got worse and worse as the days went on. Each day that passed was another day closer to the birth of their child, and they had just enough money for one and a half passengers. Jocelyn wanted them to leave now. Sell everything, which should give them enough money for both of them. Leonard disagreed. If he could just work for a few more days, just few more, and help these poor people who managed to get away from a Titan…

Then suddenly, they weren’t acting like a couple anymore. They were arguing, day after day. Always accusing one another with anger. Always yelling, always screaming. So much to the point that they couldn’t remember a time when they were a happy couple. So much that they couldn’t bring themselves to even say “I love you” anymore. And really, he should have seen it coming, because this was really the obvious next step, but he didn’t. He never saw anything coming when it came to Jocelyn.

She filed for a divorce.

It made perfect sense. For her to want to get away before the baby came. For her to want to get away from him, wanting nothing to do with him. For her to finally be done with him, who wanted to stay despite seeing the horror first-hand. Despite seeing the destruction first-hand. But the divorce took too long of a time, and by then, the money for one and a half passengers wasn’t enough. She needed everything.

By the time James Kirk found him, Leonard had nothing but his skin and bones.

*

“Kill it! Kill it! Kill it!” Leonard McCoy screamed as he scrambled under the dumpster. The Titan reached forward, found that it couldn’t reach its prey, and tilted its head, confused. It then stuck its thick fingers under the dumpster, figuring it to be easier to try and grab Leonard instead of lifting the dumpster. 

“I’m trying, damn it! Stop yelling in my ear!” the Captain of the remaining Starfleet officials left on Earth, James Kirk, shouted back on the comms as he swung his sword down in a swift arc down at the Titan’s nape. It made direct contact, but the sword became embedded in the thick tissue, causing Jim to spiral out of control without his sword on hand. “Damn!”

“ _What do you mean, ‘damn?!_ ’” Leonard screamed into the comms as he tried to stay out of the reach of the Titan’s giant fingers. “Hurry up before I become its food!”

“I’m trying! But I told you that Sam’s better at this than I am!” Jim shouted back. Then a little more quietly into the comms, he demanded, “Where’s my backup?!” He pulled forth just one sword before firing his anchor, this time just above the Titan’s head. He jumped, using the gas to propel him forward. He held the sword with both hands this time, and when he was close, he plunged it in and dragged it across the nape. He hit the wall nearby, kicked off of it, and then returned, slicing across the top and effectively shutting down the Titan.

“Whoot!” Jim cheered as the gas sputtered out, empty. “Sam may be better, but I’m still one of the best! Hey Bones, you can come out of hiding now!”

Leonard waited a few more minutes to make sure that the Titan wasn’t aiming for him anymore. Just when he was sure, he wiggled out from under the dumpster and looked up into Jim’s bright grin. Even without hearing it, he could envision the upcoming conversation between them. Jim, with his bright smiles and too cheerful a tongue, and him with his near-death experience and moody grump. “Not one word,” he hissed.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jim sang, laughing. "Now why don't you just give your hero a big kiss?"

“So you killed both of the Titans then?”

There was a pause as Jim’s smile slowly disappeared. 

“There… were two of them…?”

The two slowly turned behind them, where another Titan sat, grinning at them. 

“Bones?”

“… Yeah, brat?”

“RUN!”

*

Captain James Kirk was one of the strangest people that Leonard had ever met. And that was saying a lot, because he had been married to Jocelyn. With his disarming bright smiles and flirtatious winks, Jim Kirk had a way of getting into your head. And once there, he didn’t relinquish hold. He was the strangest of all enigmas, and Leonard was pretty damned sure he felt that way not only because he was romantically interested.

Jim Kirk was a good Captain. There was no arguing that. He could lead his people to the best possible outcome with the least amount of casualties. And to actually find someone who could smile like he could… Well, let’s just say that not many left on Earth smiled anymore. But Jim Kirk still had his smiles, his charms. He still had manners (or some kind of semblance of it), and an intellect that he never actually seemed to use.

Whenever anyone asked about his life before the world ended, he would smile wryly and tug at a locket around his neck almost nervously. There would be a bit of a hesitation (planned or not, Leonard could never quite tell), and then he would come to a decision that you could be trusted and whisper to you the story of Samuel Kirk. Of how the hero’s son became a valiant hero, how he could fell any Titan, no matter the size. Then he would tell you of the tragic story of mistaken identities. How Sam was supposed to have stayed to protect. He had fought for it, to prevent his younger brother into this harsh life. But then there was a mistake, and before they knew it, Sam was the one on the USS Gallivant, flying out into space, and Jim, the deadbeat, was the one left on Earth to fight against the Titans.

Then Jim would shyly smile and ask if you’d like to see his brother, and he would open his locket proudly to show you. He would explain, still with that shy smile, that it was given to him at the last minute. When they had been born, their mother took their pictures and put it in the locket. And every year on their birthdays, she updated it. It had been given to Sam when he left for Starfleet to remind him of his roots. But when they realized that their identities have been swapped, Sam had thrown the locket at him and made him swear to stay alive. Stay alive until they reunited out in space. Stay alive and remember his roots. Remember who he was.

Leonard had never met a single person who could smile back at Jim after seeing what was inside the locket.

No one asked Jim about his past anymore.

*

“I hate you!” Leonard hissed to Jim as the two ran side by side through the twisting turns of the city. “You always use too much of your gas fighting those things and we’re always running back!”

“Hey! Who was the one who diverted from the group without his 3D gear?” Jim growled back. “I don’t want to hear it from you!”

“I don’t know about you deaf kids, but I heard someone yell for help!”

Jim’s face darkened as they continued to run. “Bones, you know the protocols when it comes to rescuing people outside the border.” 

“That doesn’t mean we should just let them be eaten, Jim.”

Leonard knew the protocol. And a year ago, Jim Kirk would not have hesitated at all to break protocol if it meant that they could save one more life. But a year ago, Christopher Pike was the Captain. One year ago, Christopher Pike lost his life in the line of duty. Jim hadn’t been the same since.

“… Is it only me or has the Titan stopped chasing us?”

The two glanced behind them and realized that it was true. They stopped running to catch their breaths, grinning at one another at another crisis averted. Breathless laughter left their mouths as they quickly pulled together, kissing briefly for seconds at a time as they continued to gasp for more air. 

“You know, you guys should really be thanking us backup,” Sulu said over the comms. He, Spock, and Uhura appeared over the rooftop, looking down at them.

“Took you guys damned long enough!”

*

The first time they kissed was a mistake.

That was the best way Leonard can phrase it. Leonard was helping Jim after he had been thrown against a brick wall (Luckily, the rest of the team dispatched the Titan, so they weren’t in too big of a danger). And instead of passing out from the pain, Jim cheekily grabbed him by his collar and yanked him down for a kiss. Then he passed out in Leonard’s arm, not taking responsibility at all for the emotions that he stirred in the doctor. Afterwards, Leonard pretended that nothing happened.

Except it happened again.

Next time was in the medical room. Jim’s excuse was flimsy: “Dude man, I have this _kink_ in my back…”

And honestly, Leonard shouldn’t have even let him in. But before he knew it, they were pressed against one another, battling with tongue in a way that Leonard hadn’t been planning on. And it had been such a long time since Jocelyn… 

Leonard wasn’t sure when they became an official couple. He wasn’t even sure if they qualified as one. But everyone else referred to them as a couple and Jim had no problems with kissing him in public. Before Leonard knew it, they were pretty much one. They spent most of their free times together, often talking of the past (at least on Leonard’s part. Sometimes, Jim talked of Sam and all the misadventures they had, not noticing the way Leonard grimaced) or kissing or more (usually, it was more). Meal times meant talking with the rest of the group, but Jim always sat next to Leonard, and Leonard always got food for him. And whenever anyone had a question about the Captain or they just wanted to find him, they always looked for Leonard first. 

When it came time to fight the Titans, Jim always left with a lingering kiss, always telling Leonard to hang tight, that Jim would be back soon. Leonard waited back at the base, twiddling his thumbs as he listened to the chatter over the comms, praying that Jim would come back whole. That Jim would make it okay. And when finally, Leonard took on the 3D gear himself and joined Jim’s ranks, the Captain’s lips twisted into a fierce snarl and he yelled, “Stay near the back!” 

Leonard never did. And Jim quickly learned to stay on his feet, and chase after his love. Leoanrd didn’t think he ever faced a Titan alone. 

If that didn’t constitute as ‘official couple,’ Leonard wasn’t sure what did.

*

There were 597 humanoids left on Earth currently. And the next starship that they were building should take everyone off this wretched planet. They were promised three weeks. Three weeks and they would all be able to live without constant fear of the Titans, fear of being eaten alive. Three weeks and they would be on a starship, flying to freedom.

“C’mon, Bones. Join us by the fire,” Jim said, patting the space next to him for Leonard to join. 

By his side were the rest of the Starfleet officers (the last of them still on Earth). Technically speaking, Leonard still wasn’t part of Starfleet. He was just a civilian doctor who had been adopted by the Starfleet brats (brats because the older ones had a nasty habit of being eaten first – Jim often joked that it was the folly of pride and experience). There was young Chekov, who had once again lost too much weight (there never seemed to be enough food). Sulu sat beside him with a tired but soft smile on his face, sneaking his own food to the young Russian when he thought no body was watching. Scotty was beside him, complaining about the lack of sandwiches in the world to Uhura, who just rolled her eyes at him. Spock sat in between them, looking a little lost on how humans talk and relate to one another. And the circle came close with Jim, who was sitting on a long log by himself. By himself because everyone knew better than to sit right next to Jim, because that was Leonard’s spot.

“I was just recounting to our troop here about your daring attempt at fighting a Titan without a 3D gear,” Jim told him with a wink. 

Leonard just rolled his eyes as he sat down next to the brat, handing over the tray of food for dinner. Stale bread, watered down soup, and a small piece of protein nibs. The rest of the food had either been stored on a starship that left earlier or had been slowly rationed off (any and all replicator technology had already been taken earlier by other starships). Frankly, Leonard was rather surprised that they had this much left to begin with, especially with no replicators.

“It must have been frightening,” Chekov said, looking at Leonard with haunted eyes. Then again, who amongst them didn’t have their own ghosts to battle?

Leonard glared at Jim. Just what kind of horror had he been sprouting now? “It was nothing, kid,” he told Chekov. “I’m just lucky that backup arrived on time to get me out.”

“Hey! I got you out!” Jim whined.

“And then you got me stuck running away from the Titans again,” Leonard reminded him. “Which always seem to happen nearly every time we get separated from the rest of the group.”

“Wouldn’t have happened if you had just stayed with us!” Jim muttered.

“Which wouldn’t have happened if you had made the right decision to save that person.”

There was a thick silence as everyone looked away. They had all learned by now. The sinking fear and never-ending desperation that came with fighting a Titan. They had all no doubt lost many of their fellow co-workers, watched as friends and bosses became eaten, and came to lose all hope except for one: the last starship to take them away. They had all too quickly gotten accustomed to let someone die if it meant that they could breathe just one more day. Just one more day closer to escape…

Leonard sighed.

“What do you think will happen?” Jim asked finally, interrupting their dark and morbid thoughts. “You know, once we’re out there. What do you think we’ll find?”

“… Adventures,” Sulu said, looking up with a smile. “Things that won’t involve people dying, you know?”

“Hope,” Chekov added, glancing at Sulu shyly. “For something better. For something new.”

“New cultures. Maybe I’ll be able to learn some new languages as well,” Uhura admitted softly.

“Food,” was all Scotty had to say. When prompted, he finally rolled his eyes and added, “Playing with those engines. It’s going to be thrilling to be able to see just how far those engines can go in space as I tinker with them…”

“It would be… _nice_ to be able to go home,” Spock said, looking down at the ground. As one of the few aliens left on this planet, Spock definitely stood out. The rumour was that he was here because of his human mother, who had refused to leave Earth until everyone had been taken to safety. For that purpose, he joined Starfleet. Whether this was true or not, Leonard wasn’t sure. He had never seen the elusive woman, you see. 

“I wouldn’t mind seeing my daughter,” Leonard admitted. He noticed Jim’s look and quickly added, “She’s my daughter. I haven’t seen her since her birth. Can you grant me that, you jealous brat?”

Jim shook his head with a smile, but the flash of sadness was still there.

“Vhat about you, Keptin?” Chekov asked, looking at Jim. 

There was a slight pause before Jim pulled out his necklace locket. He clicked it open and looked at it for a bit. Then with a bright smile, he declared, “Finding my brother. Sam’s out there somewhere. So I have to find him.” He snapped the locket shut, looking at it with the softest of all smiles. Then suddenly, he looked up, a bright happy grin on his face as he declared:

“Someone go grab some alcohol! Let’s sing some campfire songs!”

*

They ran out of alcohol three days ago.

And in an hour, the Enterprise would leave. Instead of celebrating like the rest of humanity, Leonard McCoy was stuck in the tower with the rest of the group. Chekov sobbed, holding what was left of Sulu’s body close to his chest. Spock was by the window, watching with hooded eyes as more and more Titans swarmed the building. Uhura was by the broken bookshelf, curled up in a small ball, not crying. Just sitting. Just curled up. 

Jim punched the wall, hissing under his breath. “Damn it all.” He punched the wall again and again. “We were so fucking close.” 

“Jim,” Leonard said softly. He placed a hand on his shoulder, deepest sigh leaving his mouth. “Let it go. It’s over. We’ve lost.”

“No! This can’t be it. You can’t tell me that you honestly believe this to be the end? All of you?” Jim demanded as he spun around to look at the rest of them. But no one would meet his eyes. 

Leonard pursed his lips. “You’re being stupid. Give it up, kid. It’s over.”

“There’s no such thing as a no-win scenario.”

“Jim-”

The whole building shook. “They must have taken out a support beam,” Spock informed them. “Captain, it is over.”

“Scotty.” The rest of the group stared at him. Jim turned to them with a grin. “Scotty. He’ll know that we’re missing. He’ll use the teleporter. Pinpoint our location using the comms. He can get us.”

“By then, we won’t be here,” Uhura said from where she sat. She stared at them with blank eyes. Not defeated. They passed that stage a while back. This was something worse. This was apathy. “Because we’ll all be dead. Face it, Kirk. There’s no hope.”

“Sam would have found a way out,” Jim growled back. “Sam always finds a way out.”

Leonard couldn’t take it anymore. When was Jim going to realize it? Sam was… “Jim, Sam is-”

“ _What_?” At the glare directed at the doctor, Leonard suddenly couldn’t form the rest of the words. He just fell silent as Jim muttered darkly under his breath as the building shook once more.

“Stalling,” Chekov said finally as he looked up. His face was streaked with tears and his voice shook when he spoke, but his eyes were bright. He wanted revenge. “Ve can stall zhem. Only one or two of us vill be enough.”

“Stall? Kid, that’s suicide!” Leonard exclaimed. “We can’t just send someone down there! Do you know how many Titans have swarmed us like locus?”

“Exactly 26 of them,” Spock informed them. “More are on their way as we speak. The doctor is correct. Even if we stall, there is no way that we can last until anybody realizes that we’re no longer there.”

“How many of you still have gas left over?” Jim asked suddenly.

Everyone glanced at him before looking down at their respective gears. 

“I have exactly 64.5% of my fuel left,” Spock reported.

“About halfway,” Uhura echoed.

“Enough,” Chekov said.

“About half. Same as everyone else. Why?” Leonard dreaded the answer, because whenever Jim got that look in his eyes, it never ended well for the medical team.

“If we sacrificed one person… the rest can fly to another building. And from there, hop from building to building until they get out of here or until Scotty finds them. It will be risky. And I don’t know how many of you will make it, but it’s possible.”

No. Leonard really didn’t like the way Jim was speaking. Because it almost sounded like… “Jim, how much gas do you have left?”

“It’ll work, Bones,” Jim said instead, standing up and checking everyone’s swords. 

“ _How much gas_?”

There was a bit of a hesitation before Jim looked up, staring Leonard down with decisive calmness. “I’m out.”

_Damn you. You never pay attention to how much gas you use when you fight those damned things. Why can’t you ever be more careful? Why are you planning to leave me?_

“Keptin, zake my gas. I vill wolunteer zo stay-”

Jim shook his head. “No, Chekov. You can’t.”

“I vill stay! If Hikaru isn’t zhere, I don’t vant zo live!”

Uhura stood up suddenly and drew forth her own sword. “You don’t get to dictate how we die, Kirk. I’d rather go down fighting anyhow.”

“It is illogical, but I choose to stay as well,” Spock declared, pulling out his blades. “None of you have Vulcan strength.”

“And damn you if you thought I’m going to leave you,” Leonard snarled. “You don’t get to make that decision by yourself.”

There was a beat of pause as Jim slowly looked at each and every one of them, really studying them. Something akin to pride shone in those blue eyes before Jim finally pulled Leonard into a kiss. He chuckled gently in Leonard’s ear, almost as if he wanted that to be one of the last things the doctor remembered. Then with the saddest smile that Leonard had ever seen on Jim’s face, he whispered, “Sam was always the hero.”

And ran.

Jim made it to the elevator shaft before the rest of them could react. He pulled off his necklace locket and threw it back at Leonard, hitting it squarely on his chest. With a big grin, he stated, “I’m not blind.” 

His grin was the last thing Leonard saw before Jim vanished from sight, falling down, down, down into the dark, “Damn it, Jim!” echoing horribly hallow after him.

*

The very first time Leonard McCoy saw James Kirk was when the latter was still just a Lieutenant. He had been at medbay, sitting next to a man who had lost his legs to a Titan. Leonard was making rounds that day, when he overheard their conversation.

“And then Sam swooped in and saved the day!” Jim (he hadn’t known his name was Jim yet) said, laughing brightly. The man on the biobed did not make a sound. He did not even acknowledge anything that Jim was saying. Leonard only noticed them due to all the rocket. He had been contemplating whether to shut the blonde up when he witnessed the next bit of the one-sided conversation.

“He’s a real damned hero. Much better than any of us, anyways… Hey, want to see his picture?”

The man on the biobed did not do anything. However, Jim took that to mean yes, and pulled forth his necklace locket with a proud smile. And Leonard stared with shock and a bit of horror at the locket that Jim held up so happily.

Because the locket was completely empty.

*

"I love you," Jim said one day out of the blue. Then he glanced over at Leonard with a big grin. "Just so you know. In case I don't come back."

"You're morbid, brat," Leonard answered. When Jim continued to stare at him expectedly, he let out a soft sigh and said, "I love you too. So don't you dare not come back."

*

By the time Scotty realized that something was wrong and tried to contact them was too late. No one was left in that tower. 

435 humanoids made it out aboard the USS Enterprise.


End file.
